AUSTIN
My daughter Patricia
meets a young man in Austin
He tells her a story
about the time he decided to end it all
Walking home from buying the gun
he meets a woman on the street
She smiles at him as they pass
He throws the gun away
Author Archives: neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com
Here’s a Little One
Here’s a little one
That may help you in your livin
Death can only take from you
That which you have not given
SALMON LEAPING
SALMON LEAPING
In the very center of New Brunswick
Half way between the equator
and the north pole
Half way up the river Mirimichi
Half way between the spawning grounds and
the sea the salmon stop to rest in quiet pools
As you watch, one or two or three
will leap high above the water, twist in the
air and splash down again
I asked the best guide on the river
and the best outfitter too
Why do they jump like that?
They said nobody knew
I suspect it’s all part of something simple
that has always been true
There’s just a lot of joy in doing
what you were born to do
ROBERTA’S WEDDING
ROBERTA’S WEDDING
When I returned from anywhere by air
Roberta would run
full out across the crowded floor
take a gymnast’s leap ten feet away
and fly through the air into my arms
So pure a show it was of joy and love
so affirming of the goodness of all life
so full of youth’s unquestioned faith
she would be safely caught and held
that travelers all around
would stand in awe
Today she runs across a crowded floor
and leaps with equal joy
into the arms of another man with
equal trust she will be safely caught and held
And now I see what all those others saw
and I stand back in awe
A NEW WORD
A NEW WORD
We need a new word
A word for how you feel about someone
that you want to hang around with all of the time
I mean really want to be with every night and day
A word for that feeling that makes your heart sing
every time you see them
Causes a warm smile to rise every time you think of
them
Love doesn’t quite do it anymore
it has been battered and bruised and bled too often
A word for that feeling that where you meet them is
in a land of
acceptance, filled with air so light that fear cannot
breathe it
Friend won’t do, even though
friends are people you can count on, and who can count on
you,
And brother this and brother that, or sister this and
sister that are now used by people who have nothing
more in common than a perceived common enemy
No, we need a new word
Something as fresh and clean and bright and pure and
as innocent as a baby’s chortling laugh
Yes we need a new word and we need it bad
I sure hope we don’t find it
ODE TO NERUDA
ODE TO NERUDA
You have gifted the world with your being
and your words the fruits of your being
You have seen the mother and the lover
in the sea tides rocking rhyme
In the flowers of her hair
in your politics of care
You remind us of the role of all poets
to open and meet the world naked
To perceive the world naked
to receive the world naked
To sing the world naked
naked as your hand
RESPONSIBLE
RESPONSIBLE
In ancient China
you paid your doctor when you were well
If you happened to fall ill
payment stopped until you were better
In ancient Mexico
if a person stole he was punished
If he stole because he was hungry
the civil servant
in charge of the village was punished
Are we missing something here?
I’M GLAD I SAW
I’M GLAD I SAW
The tall old lady in Austin bent over her walker
inching her way across the street to the Driskill
She has a few drinks, listens to Margaret sing
has a few more and starts to sting along
About midnight she stands up to her full six feet
picks up that walker, and it never touches the street
The city crew in Edmonton all leaning on their shovels
watching a pretty girl walk their way
As she passes they pick up their shovels as one man
Turning in chorus line perfection they set them down
and lean on them as they watch her walk away
A blind man stands on a narrow street in Florence
A man comes up behind him, grasps his elbow
points the man’s white cane into traffic
right in front of our hotel car
Brakes screech, he pushes and follows
the blind man across the street
leaving him and us with mouths ajar
Climb out sunsets gain altitude as sun sinks
into the oceans or mountains, one more hour of beauty
A sun dance in the Dakotas, a fire walk in California
sunrise on Oahu, babies smiles, and Northern Lights
And You
I’M BACK
I’M BACK
I went away but I’m back
I’ve met the Queen
but I’m back
I’ve worked and grown till I dropped
and learned till my ear wax popped
I’m better and kinder and wiser
with an armful of gifts
and I’m back
Oh dear, isn’t anybody here
BIG BOYS
BIG BOYS
The deep sadness
The red anger space
The hang on tight we
Might end up in the next county passion
All hidden behind the great wall of control
That terrible land where I locked
the little boy who could cry
And if I open the door to one of these
will they come bursting out
And with what years
of build up force behind them
I know big boys don’t cry
I don’t remember why
would they die